Is the leather market down? Exports and imports fell

During the first 3 months of 2020, exports and imports registered falls in both quantity and value.

Under the value variable, the main destination country was China + Hong Kong, where 17 million square meters of leather and skins were exported, 7.6% less during the first quarter of 2020, compared to the same months of 2019. Regarding business, sales were made for US$ 78 million, a decrease of 19.6%.

Exports to the United States grew 22% in quantity (5.3 million m2) and 10.9% in value (US$ 57.9 million); while Italy registered a drop of 17.1% in quantity and 31.7% in value.

The United States was the largest supplier measured in value in the first three months of 2020, with businesses of US$ 3.5 million for 93,180 square meters, which meant an increase of 58.3% and 480.9% respectively, in relation to the same quarter of the previous year.

For its part, Uruguay made sales of 100,193 square meters (-41.3%), for a total of US$ 1.4 million (-27.7%). The third place was occupied by Argentina, with 85,004 square meters and US$ 924,665, with negative variations of ‐33.5% in quantity and ‐31.2% in value, according to data provided by SECEX, prepared and disseminated by CICB.